In November 2008, following a highly competitive application process, Governor James Doyle appointed Marilyn L. Taylor as Poet Laureate for the State of Wisconsin. Previously she served a two-year term as Poet Laureate of the city of Milwaukee. Even before her latest honor she was in high demand to lead poetry workshops locally as well as statewide at such venues as Lawrence University’s Bjorklunden Seminar Center in Door County, Redbird Studios in Bay View, and AllWriters Studio in Waukesha. She has also served as visiting poet at other schools, libraries and bookshops across the country.
Taylor is currently a Contributing Editor for THE WRITER magazine, where her articles on poetic craft appear bi-monthly. Her award-winning work has appeared in dozens of journals and literary anthologies. She is the author of eight collections of poetry. Taylor makes her home in Milwaukee, where for many years she was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, teaching for the Department of English and later for the Honors College. She holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.